vivi torontali

Not caught up? Read Episodes 1-26 here.

Last you heard from me, I was in the midst of the largest amount of snowfall Copenhagen has seen in forever. Lucky for you, I lived to tell the tale, and now I can confidently say that spring has officially sprung! It goes to show how long it’s been since my last post. If you’re reading this, it means you’re still keeping up with me, and I thank you for that. To be honest, I’ve been losing traction with this bløg because I’m so focused on my exhibition— I have just over a month left, and still so, so, so much work to do. Sometimes, though, I just need a push to get my sorry ass back in front of my WordPress screen. It’s important to me to know that y’all still want to hear from me, and that a new post does need to take priority from time to time. I have one person to thank for that push, you know who you are. If in the future, you find yourself missing me, feel free to yell at me, saying “VIVI! NEW BLØG PLEASE, ASAP!!!” If that does happen, you have my word that you’ll get a new post within the next three days.

I haven’t written about what my sister’s been up to lately as she’s been settling into her new role as a digital marketing mentor. Turns out, this dream job didn’t turn out to be much of a dream. After working 50-60 hour weeks for over a month straight, she found that it was taking a huge toll on her health. She decided to propose a new contract that would allow her to go part-time and do more behind-the-scenes work. She loves teaching groups, but her job requires her to do many one-on-one calls. Because she works for an American company, the higher-ups are mainly concerned with making themselves and their employees more money rather than having a work-life balance, so the full-time contract requires a minimum of nine hours of work per day. She felt “punished” because she is not based in the Eastern time zone, and thus needs to work late into the night, sometimes until four in the morning. After discussing this new contract with her boss, she will officially start on a new part-time schedule next week, regaining control of her life and health. As it turns out, other coaches like her have been struggling with their workload as well, but Lilla was the first and only one to say anything about it. Sometimes it’s worth opening your mouth.

My mom and I officially passed our Module 2 exams in Danish class this past week! Starting this Monday, we’ll be starting Module 3 out of 6. She studied so hard for this exam, and even then she was afraid that she’d fail. When she announced that she passed, all I could say was “I told you so.” It was very satisfying to say that, as you can imagine. The test comprised three sections: speaking, reading, and writing. The speaking section consisted of presenting to the examiner and answering questions about either work, housing, or free-time activities. Then the student has to ask questions about an imaginary person’s work, housing, or free-time activities, just like in the Module 1 test I wrote about in Episode 21: Reasons to celebrate. The reading test consisted of four different tasks: the first was to match a person’s profile with a job listing (for example, Mette wants to work on weekends, not in an office, and option B is a weekend job in a burger restaurant). The second task was to cross out the sentence that doesn’t fit the paragraph, and the third was to fill in the blanks. The fourth was to read three different people’s stories and match the person with a question (for example, who ran six marathons in the past week? A. Lotte, B. Klara, or C. Frederik). Lastly, the writing test was a handwritten email in which we responded to someone asking us questions, seemingly really interested in what we’ve been up to. I had to write to an imaginary person about how I started running with my colleague after a stressful day at the office. If you know me at all, you’d know that the person who wrote that response is the anti-Vivi. First of all, I would never willingly run, and second of all, I’d be caught dead before I work in an office.

My dad’s birthday was also the day my mom’s sister and my dad’s brother decided to visit Copenhagen. The fact that they both came on the same day was entirely coincidental— turns out the plane tickets from Budapest to Copenhagen were super cheap for that day. Also, my parents haven’t seen their siblings in about 28 years, so this was a big family reunion for us. That week, I noticed I had three days off work, so I coordinated with a colleague and turned it into four. In four days, I got so far ahead with my exhibition work, showed my extended family around the city and cooked dinner for them, and changed my entire perspective on my life and my stress. It was truly blissful and much-needed. My aunt (mom’s sister) was only here for a few hours, something she planned with her friends somewhat impulsively, and my uncle (dad’s brother) was here for three days. In the few hours my aunt and her friends were touristing around Copenhagen, my mom pulled off 21,000 steps. That’s a huge feat considering my mom was walking around on a broken foot. It’s easy to be tourists of our own city even after nine months of living here, especially if it’s to show it off, but we haven’t walked this much since our trip to Budapest in Episode 24: Homecoming.

Over those four days off, I speeded through my exhibition work. I’m always held back by shifts at the café— either my entire day is spent there, or I finish in the early afternoon and find myself unable to stay awake for the entire day. I did a lot of writing for some upcoming marketing work. Here’s a sample of that writing, which will also give you a better idea of what it is if this bløg hasn’t given you a good enough idea already:

“This collection comprises eight surrealist illustrations of mountains and volcanoes around the world. By decoding elevation maps, I dissect landforms into individual layers, carefully coloring each one to reveal the heart of the landscape. 

It starts with a trip to the backcountry, a breath of fresh air, and a moment away from everyday stress. It’s so easy to feel the world caving in around us, our bubbles growing smaller and smaller. The mountains keep us grounded, reminding us how insignificant our anxieties and preoccupations are in the grand scheme of things.

Chromatopography provokes discussions about nature in the modern world– the difference between what is ‘natural’ and ‘unnatural,’ the role of mankind, and the intersection of nature and technology. This collection is a testament to the majesty of natural landforms and the excellence of manual handiwork through entirely digital means. These otherworldly, slightly hypnotic illustrations reveal how intricately the land was carved by glaciers, eruptions, and tectonic activity over the course of millions of years.”

I also started to put together the art book with tons of relevant information about the mountains, photos, and geographical data. I bought some 50×70 cm frames for six out of the eight total illustrations, and I intend on buying two 70×100 cm frames in the next few days. I’m almost done with my reworking of Aoraki/Mt. Cook, and my Kilimanjaro illustration is fully colored in, done but willing to be tweaked.

So while you’re freaking out thinking “where’s Vivi?” rest assured that I’m likely in the café making beautiful latte art. My first weekend day off since mid-January was today, and I’ve never been more grateful. These past two months or so, every weekend we become a full-fledged restaurant, essentially running on reservation-only. There’s nothing quite like waking up at 6am on a Sunday to a message from my boss (who just gave birth to their second child, by the way) with a list of reservations so long I have to scroll. As stressful as that may sound and feel, I’ve grown to prefer it, because it means we can take things a bit slower and turn people away if we don’t have space for them. Sometimes it pays to work in a small café. 

I suppose the last piece of news I have for you is that my aunt gifted our beloved Nudli a new toy weasel, and he has not left its side since. After ripping apart so many donkey plushes, I think this is a nice change of pace for him. The rest of us work so hard to give him nice things, so we’re just glad he’s having a good time. Until next time, rest in confidence that I’ll be drawing on my iPad, complaining about how much I don’t like people, tugging at Nudli’s weasel in attempts to tire him out, and falling asleep in Danish class.